By Paul Ben Ishai

This is going to be a long post, so I will split it into two parts:  Part 1 and then its thrilling sequel!

Let me describe my day.  I wake up at 6:15 to a nagging tune, which I duly ignore until I can no longer do so.  Dragging myself through a shower, I dress and I am downstairs in the kitchen.  Making myself coffee and feeding the animals (I do mean animals, a dog and a cat, not my children), I read the news and my emails, WhatsApps, etc…. Then I drive to work, answering calls (never making them) on the speakerphone.  Arriving at work I check my schedule and make my day.  Emails, documents, Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, teaching and meetings.  Much of this activity is ‘on the go’.  The end of the day I am at home and still checking social media, replying to friends or family.  I try to go to bed the same day that I got up.

My lifestyle is typical and possible only because I, like you, live by the cellphone.  And this is the paradox of our modern life.  We cannot go back to the time before. To the calming routine of a Newspaper printed on paper, to a leisurely cup of coffee accompanied maybe by the radio, to a quiet commute and the certainty of a day ruled by a schedule and meetings only.  I doubt very much we would want to. We are married to our phones.

It is a hectic life and it takes its toll on us. We have “morphed” (I wouldn’t say evolved) into “Tech Men”, a form of humanity that remembers simple times but cannot exist unless surrounded by tech. Our natural environment now includes an unnaturally high dose of electromagnetic radiation. So, does this sea change in society mean that we must bow down to technology and do its bidding? In particular, who should decide what and when is this technology healthy?

About Paul Ben Ishai

Paul Ben Ishai is an academic staff member of the Physics Department of Ariel University. He has authored 80 publications in various fields of physics and chemistry.  He specializes in the interaction of human skin and high frequency radiowaves and is a scientific advisor for Environmental Health Trust.

Read more of Dr. Ben Ishai’s blogs in The Times of Israel:

• The green dilemma of 5G densification
• Barrister battles over 5G — many a David and one Goliath
• The day Don Quixote found his mark
• The art of conspiracy and 5G
• The 5G morass – tales and tattles or reasons for concern?